Dynasty - John F Kennedy

IV

September, 1951

Time seemed to pass slower the more she looked down at the tank watch on her wrist, tapping her nails against the bar-counter. Maddie had been dreading this night for months.

The bartender presented her fourth mint julep, and she down half the drink in one sip though she was getting sick of the taste.

James was the only thing on her mind. It went against every one of her instincts to avoid him, but it seemed like the easier thing to do. She had hoped that he would stop calling or showing up at her house, but damn - that man was tenacious.

Randomly, she lifted her gaze to the door just as he entered. He was handsome as ever, but the gloomy look in his eyes made her feel sick to her stomach. Maddie knew that only she was responsible for it.

James' heart fluttered as he saw her. At least she was okay. Worst-case scenarios had been the only thing on his mind. A dazzling smile spread across his face as he ran to embrace her, forgetting the terror she had put him through for weeks.

"I've missed so much, honey," he buried his face in her neck and inhaled the familiar scent. For a brief moment, it felt like everything might be alright.

A small tear escaped Maddie's eyes as she tried to compose herself. His slicked-backed hair and gorgeous face still awakened the butterflies inside her. Suddenly, she had forgotten all the rough patches in their relationship. In her memory, their era was rosy and pure.

As he loosened his grip on her, he gave a kiss that almost made her fall backward off the barstool. A kiss filled with promise she knew she could never live up to. Still, his soft lips sent shivers through her body.

Maddie gave him a sense of belonging that he couldn't find anywhere else, not even with his own family. She made everything else seem irrelevant. She was the only thing that mattered.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses?" James wondered as their touch came to an end.

"I'm incognito," she looked around the bar and made sure no one recognized her as she had done multiple times already. Her parents and the Kennedys had announced the engagement in every major newspaper in New York, and she didn't want to have infidelity-rumors circulating; those spread like wildfire. It actually came as a surprise that James hadn't seen it yet.

"Why?" he chuckled, "and sunglasses alone isn't much of a disguise."

She took the glasses off and laid them on the counter, showing her dreary face, "you're going to hate me."

"I could never," he smiled reassuringly and caressed her cheek.

She fiddled her fingers, bringing his attention to the tauntingly ornate ring on her finger, "what is that?"

Tears blurred her vision as a sob involuntarily left her mouth. She put her hands on his cheeks, "I'm so sorry, baby."

James couldn't remember the last time he cried, but something hurt him so deeply about seeing her in tears that it brought water to his own as well.

The bar was almost deserted. Only a few heavily drunk men were seated at a table behind them. The dim light cast a shadow across half Maddie's face making her seem distant and almost unrecognizable to James.

Either it was the drinks, the night, or just her heavy heart that made her spill everything to him. She explained how her parents had called on her to marry Jack. How she would be marrying a man she didn't love in only a few weeks and how they would be moving to the Capitol after their honeymoon.